As racial tension again flares across the country, Dr. Cornel West provides a clear portrait of King as a radical visionary. While King is currently recognized as a major leader in America’s civil rights movement, a transcendent orator and an insistent proponent of nonviolence, few realize how truly radical he was. Dr. Cornel West brilliantly establishes King’s revolutionary Christian vision, seeing him as a passionate democratic socialist, underscoring his profound identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, to all war, and his crusade against global imperialism.

As racial tension again flares across the country, Dr. Cornel West provides a clear portrait of King as a radical visionary. While King is currently recognized as a major leader in America’s civil rights movement, a transcendent orator and an insistent proponent of nonviolence, few realize how truly radical he was. Dr. Cornel West brilliantly establishes King’s revolutionary Christian vision, seeing him as a passionate democratic socialist, underscoring his profound identification with the poor, his unapologetic opposition to the Vietnam War, to all war, and his crusade against global imperialism.

Dr. Cornel West, unarguably one of America’s most gifted and provocative public intellectuals, has been profoundly influenced by Dr. King. Currently he is a professor of philosophy and Christian practice at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. He is the author of many books as well as a frequent guest on contemporary forums.

Davey D is the Host of Hard Knock Radio (airing on KPFA 94.1FM weekdays at 4pm). He is also Adjunct Professor in the Afrostudies Dept. at S.F.State University.